Gadgetory

excellent today's video is on the CM storm quickfire rapid eye from Coolermaster and yes this keyboard actually launched last year so why the heck am I making another video on it well Coolermaster has updated this version of their ten keyless mechanical face Smasher with genuine Cherry MX red switches none of those kale imposters here and I also have a broader perspective of this little board now that I've actually been using the Cherry MX brown version of it for a good nine plus months now red brown and blue switches are all available in the quick fire rapid eye and my brown switch version has been my floater keyboard around my workspace here which means it actually gets a lot of use and it has reliably been there being a keyboard every time that I ask myself where is a keyboard I need a keyboard right now happens quite frequently but apart from failing to spontaneously transmogrify itself into something other than what it is what are the features that make this keyboard in my humble opinion good well let's start with build quality which I think every mechanical keyboard deserves if you're investing in switches that are rated for 50 million P strokes it would be a shame to house it all in housing that fell apart after the first few times that you slammed your fist into it in frustration after losing to Kyle at face off again just picking it up though it's substantial and it actually gives me the impression that it could like potentially stop a bullet if necessary although that might void your warranty now this is a 10 keyless board the advantage for that is Portability and bringing your mouse hand closer to the keyboard on the right side for better ergonomics you do lose the number pad though and just FYI the keys themselves feel delicious as Cherry MX Reds it should and the housing itself has a light soft rubber finish around edges that's after nine months of regular usage on my MX Brown model has not worn off or done that kind of nasty sticky gummy thing that can happen with cheaper rubber coatings so well done Coolermaster on that one included in the Box is a key cat puller I like that because this allows you to easily pull off the key Bob the key caps to swap them out clean the board or simply to admire the Cherry MX red switches beneath also there's a nicely braided one point eight metre micro USB cable that's included now the newer versions have this right angle plug and that's to address the most frequently complained about drawback to this board in my experience and that is that it uses a micro USB connector on the board side that to be fair this plug is smaller and more delicate and it can break if mishandled now mine is still doing just fine even with the original non angled plug and on the plus side it does make that cable replaceable and you can even get an extended cord for it if you wanted to just keep an eye on that connector and unplug the cable if you're stuffing it into a backpack or taking it on the go apart from that though the quick-fire RapidEye has a sleek minimal look but it also has quite a few hidden features let's start off with n key rollover which used to be impossible via USB but I guess it's not anymore that means you can press as many keys as you want all at the same time and they will all register it's great for finishing that term paper off right before the deadline lighting and functionality are handled by an onboard 32-bit ARM processor and profiles are saved to the keyboard that means there's no need to install software on your system to control it and even if you take the keyboard and change it over to a new system it's still going to remember all of your settings so you can use the function button I've done here to control the white LED backlighting on each key did I mention by the way that there's white LED backlighting on each key coolermaster calls it active lights I'm guessing that you realized it was there already and as LED lighting goes I prefer white as a neutral color because it will blend in with a lot of desktop setups I think anyway though the function button with the insert home and delete buttons grouped up here on the top right can be used for media playback and volume control the Print Screen button right here and the function button can be used to disable or enable the Windows key which is a pretty crucial for a gaming keyboard in my opinion the function button and f1 through F will allow you to turn the lighting on or off or set the LED light lighting intensity with f2 and f3 function f4 will cycle through five different lighting modes so you've got all on the classic breathing mode of course gaming mode which will light up your WASD and arrow keys as well as to reactive typing modes that light up each key as you type there's one that doesn't instant on when you each key is pressed and the other has a fading effect which is my favorite personally because I just think it looks cool I already mentioned that your settings are saved in the keyboard and function + f9 through f12 allows you to save for profiles so you can light up only the keys you want on the board to activate this use function + the pause record button on the top right then choose which slot you want to use m1 through m4 then you tap the buttons that you want to light up and then you hit the same button and button again to save that profile it's pretty easy once you're shown how and I really like there's no software and the profiles again that you set up are safe internally finally there's repeat rate modes hidden in f5 through f8 + the function button of course these are just the repeat rate of the keys when they're held down so it's kind of like the turbo button on an old Nintendo controller now before I close I wanted to address a couple things firstly as I was researching this video I perused the review section at Newegg and found some negative feedback on this keyboard specifically regarding LEDs going out after a period of time so I asked Coolermaster about this and they did confirm that worse there were some early issues with the version with the MX brown switches that have been addressed in more recent manufacturing runs now I never had a problem with my MX brown version here all the LEDs still work but that's anecdotal now new keyboards should not have this problem and if you do have an older board and you have a failed LED or any other problem of course you can get the board replaced as it does come with a 2-year warranty for service you can go to the fanzone service center at account Coolermaster calm secondly I wanted to mention the competition for this motherboard specifically RGB backlit mechanical keyboards I think the CM Storm RapidEye has just about all the features you could want in this type of keyboard apart from RGB backlighting if that's your thing but if you want RGB lights in a 10 keyless you're limited to the Roseville RGB 80 right now which is considerably less expensive than this one but it uses kale switches instead of actual cherry switches then you have the corsair k 60 v RGB that is at Best Buy exclusive and it relies on Corsairs robust but fairly complex software suite for lighting control I think the RapidEye is distinct enough to stand on its own by comparison but you're also looking at a significant upfront investment as this keyboard is selling for about a hundred and thirty two hundred and fifty dollars as of the filming of this video that's a premium price but you also get a very well-built keyboard with a ton of action reusable features and it should last a very long time I want to know what you think though so let me know in the comments if you're using a mechanical keyboard right now if it's 10 keyless or full-sized and if you have lighting RGB or otherwise also don't forget to hit the like button on this video check the description for links to my t-shirt store as well as my Amazon affiliate code and of course a link to this keyboard if you're interested and as always thanks for watching oh yeah and the eye and rapid I stands for illumination and intelligent and Indig ignatius ignoble iota better okay Kenny